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Democracy and Democratization

GERMANS & JEWS

Director: Janina Quint

Today, Europe's fastest growing Jewish population is in Berlin. Germany is considered one of the most democratic societies in the world, assuming the position of moral leader of Europe as they embrace hundreds of thousands of refugees. Through hard work, grassroots action, and productive confrontation of the moral responsibilities of democratic citizenship, the German people have given Hitler his greatest defeat.

Through personal stories, Germans & Jews explores Germany's transformation as a society, from silence about the Holocaust to facing it head on. Unexpectedly, a nuanced story of reconciliation emerges. What began as a private conversation between the two filmmakers and friends, Tal Recanati (Jewish) and Janina Quint (non-Jewish German), grew into a cultural exchange among many. Sitting in on a dinner party of the Germans and Jews featured in the film, we see a people whose lives are inextricably linked through the memory of the Holocaust. What does it mean to take responsibility for the past? How can we do it? The scholars, intellectuals, and citizens in this film are diligently and actively seeking thoughtful and honest answers.

This is a lesson in modern history, as well as a measured study in the most radically successful example of social and cultural reconciliation in modern times. Watch and learn how tolerant and thoughtful confrontation of the past can radically re-form the social fabric of the present and create a shared vision for a united and enlightened future. Great mechanisms of democracy - the school classrooms, public discourse, public art - are productively at work. As movements in the United States such as Black Lives Matter shed light on persisting racial injustice and the deep trauma of unresolved conflict, those who want to imagine what it would look like to successfully encounter the legacy of white privilege can look to Germans & Jews as an essential roadmap to meaningful progress.

Germans & Jews is at once uncomfortable and provocative, unexpected and enlightening.

DVD (English and German with English subtitles) / 2015 / 76 minutes

BIGGER HAMMER, THE

What really happened behind the scenes of the historic 2008 presidential election? The Bigger Hammer tracks the message wars of the Obama-McCain race with the leading strategists and spinners, uncovering how politics, thirty second TV ads, and history shaped the race for the White House. Hear from insiders how the key political decisions were made -- and how celebrities, golf carts, Corinthian gardens, seven houses, preachers, hairstyles, and a plumber shaped one of the most important and entertaining elections in recent history.

DVD / 2014 / (Senior High, College) / 101 minutes

MONEYOCRACY

The 2012 Presidential election was the most costly ever in the U.S. history.More than $6 billion have been spent by the campaigns and independent groups to get their candidate elected. But for what purpose?

MONEYOCRACY focuses on the rise of Super PACs and their affiliated secret organizations ¡V the 501(c)(4)s - and documents how these organizations influenced the political debate and American voters during the 2012 presidential campaign and beyond through political advertising.

DVD / 2014 / (Senior High, College) / 54 minutes

PRICE OF KINGS, THE: OSCAR ARIAS

In the 80s, Central America was in crisis. Wracked by brutal civil wars, death squads and militia backed by the warring Superpowers of the Cold War. Yet one man at the center of this conflict decided to take action against the chaos. 'The Price of Kings: Oscar Arias' explores the legacy of this man: the former President of Costa Rica and lone leader without an army who had the courage to forge peace with his neighbors against the will of US President, at risk to his own life and the impoverishment of his people. Arias' diplomacy and leadership brought an end to the bloodshed, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize and the adoration of his people. Now his contraversial policy choices leave his reputation destroyed. Arias' pursuit of peace and prosperity for his people came at a significant personal cost, and his story reveals that even the best intentions can be held against you.

DVD / 2013 / (Senior High, College) / 62 minutes

PRICE OF KINGS, THE: YASSER ARAFAT

Yasser Arafat's political legacy is one marred by controversy. To some, he was a heroic revolutionary who fought for the freedom of Palestine and the rights of his people; to others he was a terrorist and leader of a corrupt state. Yet regardless of the dichotomy, Yasser Arafat's position at the heart of the Middle East conflict for over forty years makes him a character of incredible significance. With groundbreaking access to the people who knew Yasser Arafat best; his wife, Suha Arafat, his political allies and his adversaries, the film delves into Yasser Arafat's history, the personal struggles he faced and sacrifices he made seeking to establish peace with Israel, whilst at the same time trying to build a Palestinian nation for his people.

DVD / 2013 / (Senior High, College) / 62 minutes

TORTURE MADE IN USA

Directed by Marie-Monique Robin

Examines the George W. Bush administration's systematic use of torture and questions whether key members could be prosecuted for war crimes?

Exactly how did the world's most powerful democracy construct and implement a dubious legal framework that not only legalized the use of torture but legitimized it to politicians, academics, intellectuals, and media pundits alike? Who exactly was behind this dark and hotly debated chapter in American history?

Internationally acclaimed journalist and fimmaker Marie-Monique Robin set out to investigate the historic events and machinations of key policy leaders that led the U.S. to use systematic torture on a massive scale in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq in the name of national security and the War on Terror.

Mixing stunning archival footage and on-the-ground detective work, the film includes exclusive interviews with several key players including General Ricardo Sanchez, former commander of the coalition forces in Iraq (who speaks for the first time on camera); Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff; Matthew Waxman, former advisor to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice; Alberto Mora, former US Navy General Counsel; and Michael Scheuer, chief architect of the CIA's Extraordinary Renditions program.

Award ~ Special Jury Prize, Festival des Libertes, Brussels, Belgium ~ Olivier Quemener-RSF Award, FIGRA Le Touquet, France

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2010 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 85 minutes

TORTURING DEMOCRACY

Directed by Sherry Jones

Tells the inside story of how the U.S. government adopted torture as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11.

In a riveting and dramatic narrative, TORTURING DEMOCRACY tells the inside story of how the U.S. government adopted torture as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11. With exclusive interviews, explosive documents and rare archival footage, the documentary has been called the definitive broadcast account of a deeply troubling chapter in recent American history.

Produced by Emmy and Dupont award-winning broadcast journalist Sherry Jones, the film relies on the record to connect the dots in an investigation of interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody that became "at a minimum, cruel and inhuman treatment and, at worst, torture," in the words of the former general counsel of the United States Navy, Alberto Mora. Producer Jones carefully presents the evidence that leads straight to the top of the chain of command - and so lays to rest the "rotten apple" defense for abusive interrogations at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

In the film, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage describes - for the first time on-camera - being waterboarded during military training before he was sent to Vietnam. When asked if he considered waterboarding to be torture, he answered, "Absolutely. No question." He added: "There is no question in my mind - there's no question in any reasonable human being, that this is torture. I'm ashamed we're even having this discussion."

The documentary traces how the secret U.S. military training program - "Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape" or SERE - became the basis for many of the harshest interrogation methods employed first by the CIA and subsequently by interrogators at Guantanamo and in Iraq. The tactics designed to "inoculate" elite American troops mirror tactics used by "a totalitarian, evil nation with complete disregard for human rights and the Geneva Conventions," according to Malcolm Nance, former SERE master trainer for the U.S. Navy.

Besides Armitage and Mora, government and military interviewees include Major General Thomas Romig, Judge Advocate General for the U.S. Army; veteran Air Force interrogator Colonel Steven Kleinman; military prosecutor Colonel Stuart Couch; former Pentagon lawyer Richard Shiffrin; and Martin Lederman, senior advisor in the Justice Department.

Award ~ Best US Television Program, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2008 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 90 minutes

WAR ON DEMOCRACY, THE

John Pilger reports that, in spite of a history of repeated US-backed suppression, popular democratic movements are gaining ground in Latin America.

The War on Democracy demonstrates the brutal reality of the America's notion of 'spreading democracy'; that, in fact, America is actually conducting a war on democracy, and that true popular democracy is now more likely to be found among the poorest of Latin America whose grassroots movements are often ignored in the west.

John Pilger conducts an exclusive interview with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Pilger also goes to the United States and in some remarkable interviews, speaks exclusively to US government officials who ran the CIA's war in Latin America in the 1980s. This reveals more about US policy than all the statements and postures of recent times; it also reveals how what's happened in Latin America is a metaphor for how the rest of the world is being "ordered."

The War on Democracy, however, is a hopeful film, for it sees the world not through the eyes of the powerful, but through the hopes and dreams and extraordinary actions of ordinary people. Although set mostly in Latin America, it is a metaphor for all the world.

The thrust of John Pilger's latest film is a constant theme in all his work: that great, rapacious power is far from invincible and that people power is enduring. Photaographed in high definition video, few films have been as timely as The War on Democracy.

Award ~ Best Documentary, One World Media Awards

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2007 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 94 minutes

20TH CENTURY PRESIDENTS: WILLIAM CLINTON 1993 - 2001

During the administration of Clinton, the U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well-being than at any time in its history. He was the first Democratic president since FDR to win a second term in office.

DVD / 2006 / (Elementary, Senior High) / 14 minutes

20TH CENTURY PRESIDENTS: WOODROW WILSON 1913 - 1921

Like Roosevelt before him, Wilson regarded himself a personal representative of the people, who proclaimed America's entrace into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy."

DVD / 2006 / (Elementary, Senior High) / 14 minutes

SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY, THE: A EUROPEAN INVENTION

Democracy is not an invention. It is a process that provides mankind with a sound foundation for peaceful coexistence in every aspect of life. Universal democracy is also a must if we are to survive. But its history has been brief. In an increasingly boundless world, democracy faces new dimensions, challenges and threats.